October 28, 2018

Pera Marsh 10 years on!

A Northern Wheatear by the shoreline at Pera Marsh.

The birding here in the Algarve, Portugal is not very easy. There doesn't seem to be much thoughtful planning so the beach areas are really overdeveloped, overcrowded and cramped. It seems as though every square inch has a badly built bar on it or a dodgy hotel. Having said that, it's very clean and tidy and it's not too littered which is remarkable. Any wildlife has to cram itself into the few vestiges of undeveloped land though, for example, the White Storks on the tower in Lidls Car Park in Porté Mao !! The beaches are clean thankfully and the local people are almost nice, but you would think that as they rely on tourism so massively, they might just try a bit harder to smile and say hello now and then! At Pera Marsh today, 10 years since I last visited, it is still apparently one of Portugals most important wetland areas, it was awful to see how the creep of urbanization has pushed right to the edges of the lagoons and wetlands now. It isn't surprising therefore that it was hard to see anything resembling a rare bird. Spoonbills were feeding in the watercourses and apart from the odd White Wagtail and Crested Lark in the Car Park, that was just about it. It must have been absolutely fantastic here 50 years ago, but it is quite awful now, to be honest. But its no different to South Florida really and it always amazes me that wildlife still seems to find a place to exist.

White Stork in Lidls Carpark!!

Crested Lark in the carpark at Pera Marsh.

Last time I had visited Pera Marsh exactly 10 years ago to the day, I had seen and photographed a Bluethroat, a really sought after little bird. My friends Dave Land and Dave Stone had looked to photograph them earlier this year in Spain so I thought I would post a picture here for them to see.

Comments

Pera Marsh 10 years on!

A Northern Wheatear by the shoreline at Pera Marsh.

The birding here in the Algarve, Portugal is not very easy. There doesn't seem to be much thoughtful planning so the beach areas are really overdeveloped, overcrowded and cramped. It seems as though every square inch has a badly built bar on it or a dodgy hotel. Having said that, it's very clean and tidy and it's not too littered which is remarkable. Any wildlife has to cram itself into the few vestiges of undeveloped land though, for example, the White Storks on the tower in Lidls Car Park in Porté Mao !! The beaches are clean thankfully and the local people are almost nice, but you would think that as they rely on tourism so massively, they might just try a bit harder to smile and say hello now and then! At Pera Marsh today, 10 years since I last visited, it is still apparently one of Portugals most important wetland areas, it was awful to see how the creep of urbanization has pushed right to the edges of the lagoons and wetlands now. It isn't surprising therefore that it was hard to see anything resembling a rare bird. Spoonbills were feeding in the watercourses and apart from the odd White Wagtail and Crested Lark in the Car Park, that was just about it. It must have been absolutely fantastic here 50 years ago, but it is quite awful now, to be honest. But its no different to South Florida really and it always amazes me that wildlife still seems to find a place to exist.

White Stork in Lidls Carpark!!

Crested Lark in the carpark at Pera Marsh.

Last time I had visited Pera Marsh exactly 10 years ago to the day, I had seen and photographed a Bluethroat, a really sought after little bird. My friends Dave Land and Dave Stone had looked to photograph them earlier this year in Spain so I thought I would post a picture here for them to see.